In The Painter of Modern Life (1863) Charles Baudelaire took Barbey d’Aurevilly’s concept of the artist dandy a step further by focusing on his intellectual stance, positioning him as a rebel against mainstream society. Baudelaire declared the dandy to have an “aristocratic superiority of mind” and to be in possession of the “characteristic quality of opposition and revolt.” In Baudelaire’s vision, the artist dandy conveyed a spiritual message that transcended and opposed the vulgarities of the everyday world, paving the way for change.